Naruto Nightmare
by Nikkilove101
Summary: We don't get to choose our dreams. So when an amazing dream comes along, we don't ever want to forget it. This was my dream about being in a Naruto inspired setting. This is dedicated to my friend, Joy. Thanks for being the one I can run with!


Audience to the Ultimate Showdown

In a blink of an eye, I found myself in the end of a school hallway. The skylight was dim, making the lime green paint on the lockers look like Nickelodeon slime.

It took me a moment to register the loud explosions and yelling. It was coming from further down the hall. I ran towards the violent activity. Along the way, I noticed that the doors of classrooms were wide open. The lights were on but no one student or teacher was inside. Where did everyone go? My question was quickly answered as I got to the end of the hallway.

The architectural design was beyond anything I had ever seen in a school. The entire building was in the shape of a square with nine to ten floors. I was on the fifth or sixth floor. The sounds were coming from whatever was at the center of the square. But the railing was blocked by a huge crowd of people. I struggled to peer over them but it was of no use. There were so many students in the way.

Then I realized that no one was looking at the source of the crashes. They were but actually moving with extreme urgency. I stepped out of the hallway. They were trying to reach the exit which was all the way on either end of the building. In order to get there, they had to walk the perimeter of the core. The problem was, they were hundreds of other students trying to reach the same staircase, making the process painstakingly slow.

"What is going on down there?" I asked one of them. They were too scared to answer. Fear had complete hold on their body to the point where they could only move forward.

I tried asking another student. They gave me the same response.

There was another crash from below. A number of students screamed.

I couldn't take it anymore. I grab the arm of the nearest person. "What the heck is going on?!" I yelled at them.

I had grabbed a jock. Although, he didn't look as handsome as he normally did. There were tears and sweat crawling down his face. He babbled nonsense at me.

"What's the matter with you!" I yelled at him over the noise of hundreds of kids and faculty escaping the elusive danger. "Why can't anyone answer me?!"

"Hey." A boy said, appearing before me. He was so calm that I almost didn't hear him. He slowly pushed up his glasses. "You want to know what is going on?" he asked me, coolly.

"Yes!"

He pointed below. "It's down there. You have it to see it for yourself."

I looked to where he was pointing. "I can't get there! There are people in the way!"

He cautiously came forward and took the crying jock from me. "You're gonna' have to try. But if I were you, I would leave before they lock the doors." There were more bangs followed by explosions. He immediately started walking, gently guiding his frightened classmate. I stared after them in shock. In normal circumstances, the jock was a leader to everyone else, including the socially awkward geeks. Now the roles had reversed. What on Earth could have caused this?

Another loud explosion caused some students to scream. Everyone was running in a wild frenzy now. I decided to take the boy's advice and shoved my way through a group to get to the railing. The bottom most floor was the library with green carpeting. I searched among the tables and bookshelves for the source of everyone's panic. Out of the corner of my eye appeared two figures that I would never have expected to see in my entire life. On the library floor were two characters from Naruto battling each other to the death; Kakashi Hatake and Orochimaru.

I watched in awe as they got into a brief hand to hand combat. "This can't be happening." I heard myself whisper. The crashes of flying books and chairs reminded me otherwise.

Orochimaru sent a kunai knife with at paper bomb attached to the end flying towards Kakashi. To my relief, he deflected it. The knife hit the wall between the first and second floor. The wall shattered, causing the railing above it fell with pieces. A few lagging students almost fell off.

That was when the reality of the situation hit me. These two weren't going to stop until one of them was dead. They were going to give everything they had, no matter the damage. Maybe that was the reason why the school was being evacuated, the students would be in danger if they stayed.

I looked at the exit, thinking I should follow the boy's other advice. But, the landing was empty. Not a student was in sight. I sighed in relief. At least no one else would get hurt. Now, to get out of here!

I sprinted all the way to the exit. A large explosion hit right behind me. The floor rumbled under my feet as the landing struggled to stay up. I glanced to see a gaping hole in the flooring. The chilling thought of my near death experience made me run faster. Now, I really had to leave this battleground!

The handles to the doors were cool to the touch. They were also locked. I frantically shook the handles. No! It couldn't be locked! But no matter how hard I rattled the door, it wouldn't budge. The worst part of was that if this was locked, then the other main exits must be locked too. The teachers must have immediately locked them when the last bunch of students had safely been evacuated. I could not be stuck here! Not with the two most dangerous characters fighting till the death below me!

I racked my brain for another possible exit. There must be a side exit somewhere. Or maybe I could break a window and signal someone down below. I remembered each hallway had a large window at the end of it. Those were my best chance.

I ran down the corridor and cut a corner into a hallway. To my utter surprise, I almost run over a group of three students. They were jittering excitedly among themselves. One boy had frizzy red head, the second looked like the poster boy for Geek squad – laptop bag and square black glasses, and the third had a Death Note t-shirt.

"What are you doing here?" I asked them. "Everyone has left and the doors are locked."

"Are you kidding me? Why would we want to leave?" One frizzy red haired kid said with a huge grin on his face. "Do you have any idea of who that is down there? Its-"

"Kakashi Hatake fighting Orochimaru." I interjected.

"Yeah, dude! So you know how sweet it's going to be! We're going to watch the show."

I didn't know which was more alarming, his arrogance or his idiocy. Either way, I grabbed his collar. "Are you insane?" I screamed into his face. "Do have any idea how crazy and dangerous that is?"

The kid roughly pulled himself from my angry grasp. "Do **you **have any idea how amazing **this** is? It's a chance of a lifetime!"

"Yeah, and it might be the last thing you ever do! Think about it. If you really were a Naruto fan, you would know fully well just how psycho Orochimaru really is. Do you really want him to see you and decide he wants to come after you?"

The kid started to answer but his friend did for him. "I think she's right, dude." He told him, gripping a black computer bag full of anime pins. "He won't hesitate to kill us."

"Or even use us for his next unethical experiment." Another quietly added.

They all stayed silent, as the frightening truth sunk in.

"Now are you listening?" I asked. They all nodded. "Okay. Like, I said, the doors are locked. Is there a side exit of any kind? Like a door or a loading dock?"

"The staff would have already closed the side door. But there is a loading door with a garage door on the other side of the building." Frizzy said. "It's on the last level."

"There's a stairwell used to get to most of the floors." The one with the anime shirt said. "It's always unlocked and it's not far from here."

"Okay." I said. "Lead the way."

We all took off down towards the stairs. The halls had become extremely dark. It suddenly felt like nighttime. Was this a coincidence or just plain luck? Something told me that it was the perfect setting for a nightmare. The best way to kill someone is with something they like, but in the scariest way possible.

I followed the boys into an extremely long hallway. At halfway the leading boy abruptly stopped dead into his tracks. We almost ran into him.

"Mitchell!" Frizzy said. "What's with you, man? Why'd you stop?" Mitchell's skin had gone pale in the matter of seconds. His breathing reduced to short breaths.

"Dude." The boy with the laptop bag touched his arm. "What's wrong?"

Mitchell slowly turned his head to us, his eyes as wide as ping pong balls.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"What?" I replied.

"Something's following us."

The idea was laughable. I mean Orochimaru duking it out with Kakashi, I understood. But being followed when the maniac doesn't even know there are still students in the building? "Don't be ridiculous. There is no one following us-"

Something let out a huge growl behind us.

We all spun around. An enormous black slithery monster with the body of a human and the head of a kimono dragon stood at the other end of the hallway. Dark goo dripped to the floor from its pointy jaws. By its thick acidic texture, there was no way it was not fatal. A kunai knife glistened under the dim lights, which was interesting judging from the size of his large claws.

Then, it bounded towards us in large leaps. The boys screamed. I joined them. The beast's howl overcame ours as it initiated the blood hungry chase.

Computer boy was ahead of the pack. Then it was Frizzy, me, and lastly Mitchell. I snuck a glance at the monster. The abomination was gaining ground. I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of Orochimaru's science experiments. In fact, I should have expected it! Of course that crazy scientist wouldn't come alone! If his goal was to create minions that looked like it originated from the pit of Hell, then he won Despicable Scientist of the Year. Soon his creation would be right behind Mitchell.

"Mitchell!" I screamed. "WATCH OUT!" He turned his head and let out a frightened cry at how close he was to death. He forced his legs to move even faster.

The monster got angry that his prey was escaping so he let out an ear-piercing yell.

The end of the hallway was nearing us. The pair of doors looked like a finish line. Above had the stairs sign glowing white and red. If we could just make the last five hundred feet-

Mitchell screamed. We all turned to see a big muddy hand around his waist and pull him backwards. We screamed his name but it was no use. He was gone in a splatter of blood as the monster mutilated him with the knife. It stopped and began to devour the dead boy with its hands as if he was a chicken thigh.

The boys were now crying, both out of fear and misery. What way to lose your best friend!

"Come on!" I told them. "We are almost there!" I was right. The doors were just within reach.

BAM! A black figure zoomed from one of the classrooms and collided with Frizzy. They smashed into the lockers. There wasn't a struggle. The monster had killed him in a matter of seconds with sheer force. Dinner was served.

We finally reached the door. "There are more of them!" Computer boy yelled in horror. "Where are they coming from?"

"I don't know!" I told him. This wasn't in the anime! What the hell is going on?!

Another howl. They were done with their meal but they were also still hungry. God, we're next!

We went slammed our way through the doors and then shut them behind us.

"How are we going to keep that closed?" Frizzy asked me as I pressed my back against the doors. The monsters were pounding towards us in a mad stampede fuel by hunger.

I looked around for something long. "Get me that chain!" I said.

A random pile of chains was sitting on the floor next to a locker bank. The boy grabbed them.

"What are these doing here?" he asked.

"Who cares? Give me them!"

He handed them to me and we tied it around the handles.

"Come on!" I pushed him from the doors. Hopefully the trick would work. We could hear the monsters snarling, throwing themselves at the door. Their faces pressed against the glass. We could see their red eyes and faint outlines of a headband on their forehead. Holy smokes, they used to be shinobi! Computer boy continued to stand in front of them, mesmerized.

"Let's go!" I tugged him. "Focus! We have to get away from here! Which way are the docks from here?"

He slowly looked at me. He had the same expression on his face as Mitchell.

"What's wrong?" I said.

He didn't answer but tilted his head. It was as if he was listening for something.

"Yo! What's-"

"Shhh!" he placed a hand on my mouth and pushed me backwards. I didn't understand what he was doing until he reached out and opened the door. He dragged me inside with him.

"Where are we?" I whispered. The smell of chemicals began to crawl up my nose.

"In the janitor's closet." He murmured. His voice was shaky.

"Why are we hiding?" I asked him.

"Did you see those things' foreheads?

"Yeah."

"The outlines?"

"Yeah. They used to be shinobi. So what? What does that have to do with why we are hiding?"

"Think about it. If those had headbands, that must mean they are dead ninja. Ninjas always travel in teams of-"

"Three." I finished. Great, there was one more.

"Did you see it?"

"No. But it has to be out there, somewhere."

We both listened for any signs of disturbance outside. It was hard to hear beyond the metal door.

"I can't hear anything anymore. Wait a minute-" I felt him move to the door and press his ear on it. He stayed there for a couple of moments.

"Can you hear anything?" He shook his head. "Then why are we-"

_BAAMM! _

The door fell forward with no warning. The boy tumbled out of the closet. I tried to catch him but he was too far away. He landed on the floor and the final victim of the botched experiment pounced on top of him.

"RUN!" he screamed at me. "GET OUT OF-" He was gone with one swift cut to the jugular.

I turned and ran down the stairs. Crap! I didn't have a clue to where I was going!

I kept running down steps. Sometimes I would jump down when landings were approaching. Finally, I reached the bottom and ran out the door. I quickly shut it behind me. I waited. Thankfully, I didn't hear anymore sounds that screamed danger.

The walls of my surroundings were green again but this time it was decorated with authors and different books. Was I in a English hallway? That was when I saw a bright light at the end of the hall. Maybe it was a way out! I sprinted towards it.

The floor vibrated with thumping behind me. I didn't have to look to know what it was.

"Shit!" I said, sprinting to the bright light. I prayed it would be my salvation. However, in a dream, finding your salvation is a rarity. That truth became all too real when I found myself stumbling out of the hall and into the library, the center of the disaster.

Out of all the places, I landed in the library? What the heck?! It was the last place I should be!

In front of me were a couple of tables and shelves shelves. Beyond that was the center aisle. I could hear the sound of the grinding metals of Orchimaru's and Kakashi's kunai. After taking a deep breath, I lunged behind a shelf. Okay, I out ran the beasts. Now what? I still don't have a way out of-

My heart almost stopped when I looked across the room to the other doorway. There, frantically waving her hands in the air was my best friend, Joy. I mouthed her name in disbelief and she nodded.

"What the hell?" I mouthed.

She shook her head and continued to frantically wave me over to her side.

"Are you insane?" I asked, still mouthing. She gave me a "Don't be a wimp." look and waved me over. I still shook my head. There was no way I was running across the room, passing psycho Orochimaru, just to get to her. I waved HER over. She declined.

We stood in our places, looking at each other. Neither of us wanted to make that dart through the battlefield. Joy suddenly darted to a table and tore out a piece of paper out of a notebook. She took a pen and scribbled something. She held the sign up to me. "GET OVER HERE!" It read.

I scanned the area and found another notebook a table. Following suit, I held up a sign that read, "NO YOU COME HERE! NEED TO FIND EXIT TO DOCKS!"

Joy took only a couple of seconds to answer me. "NO." she wrote. "I KNOW WHERE IT IS! SAW YOU RUNNING FROM UPSTAIRS WITH BOYS. GET YOUR SCAREDY-CAT BUTT OVER HERE!"

I walked to next row of shelves and looked out between the books. Orochimaru was on the furthest wall to the right. Kakashi was on the ground on the left, panting. He looked exhausted and worn out. His green Jounin vest was nowhere to be seen. The shirt he had on was torn in several places. His gray hair that was usually spiked to the right like a snow covered tree flailing in the wind was shagging with sweat. His opponent was striding towards him. He was walking past the shelves a few rows in front of me. If I moved at the right moment, then I would be able to run behind him without him noticing me.

I dove to the floor as silently as I could when Orochimaru appeared in my line of sight. His footsteps paused for a moment. He was right by me. Crap! Did he sense me already? I wouldn't have been surprised. He was a legendary ninja, after all.

A tapping sound caught attention. My fingers were tapping against the wood of the shelf in pure fear. I quickly forced myself to stop but the shaking overtook my whole body. God! Why is now the time when my body decides to shake like there is an earthquake?! A second later, the footsteps continued onward. I let out a quiet sigh of relief. I peered out from behind the shelf at Joy who was also behind a shelf. Her face was as white as a sheet. We were both thinking the same thing – that was a close call.

Orochimaru was laughing at Kakashi's weakness. It was beyond funny thoughts and jokes. This laugh was something sinister all together. "So that is how madmen laugh?" I whispered. Orochimaru began casting a jutsu. Even with his back was to me, I could sense that Kakashi wasn't doing good. He was beat up and fatigued from the overuse of his Sharigan. I should probably do something. Maybe buy him time to recover? I threw away the thought. I was no match for Orochimaru and would only be in the way. Plus, what could little old me do? I just had to focus on escaping this hellhole. Orochimaru was still in the justu. If I was going to move, now would be the time.

I peeked from behind the shelves. Joy was back in the doorway, jumping up and down, waving me over. She too saw this as a perfect chance. It was now or never.

So I ran. I ran like I never ran before. Still, it didn't feel like I was running very fast. Everything seemed to slow down. Nothing was recognizable. The only thing I could recognize was Orochimaru's and Kakashi's confused reaction to a random girl running through their battlefield. Kakaski seized the opportunity to knife his adversary. Orochimaru got stabbed but was able to send Kakashi flying. He turned towards my direction as he slowly pulled out the blade from his chest. I stopped, memorized at the grotesque sight of him licking his own blood off the blade with his snake like tongue.

Joy was frantic. "What are you doing?!" she screamed. "Come on!"

But I couldn't. I couldn't move. I could just stare at the insane man who had the balls to pull of knife from his body and lick the blood off it. There was a weird expression of satisfaction on Orochimaru's face. I couldn't understand why he would have such a bizarre look on his face. Then he took a step towards me and I started to understand. He continued lick the blood off the blade like it was ice cream. He licked it clean.

"Oh my god…." I heard myself say which was funny since I don't remember that thought crossing my mind.

"SANDRA!" Joy screamed. That shook me from my daze. I looked at her. She was fine but pointing.

Next thing I know, I see turn to see Orochimaru sailing towards me with demonic speed. There was only pure darkness in his eyes and evil spelled in his smile.

There was absolutely no way I could get away in time. I closed my eyes. Once again time slowed to a crawl. It was that moment when you knew you are going to die. There he was, death knocking at the door to my soul. I began to wonder what it would feel like to be killed with a kunai knife. Would it hurt when the blade cut my jugular? Would I feel the blood spray and drip from my throat? Or maybe Orochimaru had some other plan in store for me. He had to be textbook definition of a psychopath. I almost wanted to ask. Would he allow me to ask?

I opened to my mouth to utter my final words. Time sped up. The lunatic was almost within arm's reach. I swore I could see my future death in his black eyes. Never mind asking. I would find out. I closed my eyes, preparing for impact.

A thousand birds. That's what the sound of being saved is like.

The Chidori, in all its glory, impaled Orochimaru. While Orochimaru prepared to attack me, Kakashi was able to start the legendary lighting technique. I didn't know which was more shocking, the look of surprise on Orochimaru's face or the fact that my anime crush had just saved my life.

Time froze again as Kakashi looked at me over Orochimaru's shoulder, eyes fierce and cold, the Sharigan blazing blood red. "Run." He said.

There was a hard pull on my arm. It was Joy. She was dragging me towards the exit. Time sped back up. Orochimaru's minions were climbing down the walls to aid their dying master. The building was crumbling around us. This was the last time I could see my hero again.

"Come on!" Joy was screaming to me. I couldn't move.

A large shadow was suddenly loomed over us. A monster had hurled a bookshelf. It was sailing towards us. I broke into a sprint just in time to miss the projectile.

We ran into the hallway. Screams that belonged in nightmares echoed behind us. They weren't going to let us leave so easily.

"Where to?" I screamed over the sound of the building's demolition.

"I heard some voices this way!" she replied.

We turned a corner.

"Stop!" Joy shouted after a minute of running. She was looking to her right and into another hallway. The ceiling lights flickered on and off. I saw it. The word "STAIRS" in thick glowing red letters, hung over a door at the end of the hall. The letters shone a dark red light around the door. Bad was written all over it. But, with the building about to fall around us and black monsters from the pit of hell tailing us, there was no choice but to try the eerie door. I nodded. We flew down the sketchy hallway.

Our hands had not even touched the door handle when a loud thud made brought us to a stop. We glanced at each other and turned around. One of them stood at the end of the hallway. For a moment we stared at each other. It's black slippery skin glimmered under the flashing ceiling light. I wondered if it could even see us under the red light. I opened my mouth to whisper to Joy.

Then it screamed a bone shattering scream. Joy went through the door and I quickly followed.

"We need to go three floors down!" Joy said.

"How do you even know that?" I asked.

"I read an emergency map earlier! Now come ON!"

I didn't need to be told another time. Our chaser was desperately trying to figure out how to open the door. I guess the experiments it was subjected to made it dumber than a raptor. I followed Joy's lead down the stairs. At least we didn't have to-

Bang! A loud crash echoed above us. Because if couldn't open the door, it had decided to ram itself through the wall next to it. It turned to look at us and roared. We ran faster down the stairs. We got to the first landing. I pulled Joy back. There was a shadow growing bigger above the spot where Joy was supposed to be.

To our horror, the monster had leapt down from his floor and landed in front of us that shook the ground like an earthquake. Joy and I almost fell over ourselves. We were now face to face with the horrid being. We stared down its black eyes full of an immense desire to consume us. If we didn't come up with something in a few seconds, it would.

Joy and I had unconsciously began to back away from the beast. I almost jumped out of my skin when my hand suddenly touched something cold and hard. I glanced back. It was the railing of the landing. Then, I took another look back. Something on the bottom most floor had caught my eye. It was a trampoline that had been left behind from what looked like a physics experiment.

Joy saw what I was looking at. "You're kidding me." She said to me.

We looked at the monster and then we looked back at the risky escape route.

"Left." I said to her.

Without missing a beat, my best friend smiled and replied, "Right."

"Go!"

I dove to the left as she dove to the right. The monster staggered in confusion. We ran down to the next landing and went over the railing. I was falling on my back. The monster was looking down at us, full of surprise. It would have made me laugh if the trampoline hadn't knocked the wind out of me. As planned, landing on our backs sprung us forward. I caught the edge of the trampoline before my head could collide into it. Joy landed on her feet, graceful as usual. She reached out to help me off.

To our surprise, the beast continued to stare at us with growing anger. He wasn't sure about how the trampoline worked, he only knew it allow us to escape. He took one more look at it and jumped high off the railing with full power. Unfortunately, for him, never having the experience of being on a trampoline, he didn't know that he shouldn't land on his feet, let alone from that height and power. The trampoline broke under him like paper and he landed hard on cement flooring. Bones cracking echoed in the stairwell followed by screeching.

"Nice!" Joy said as we went through the door.

"We'll celebrate when the fat lady sings." I told her.

"Agreed."

We were now in an abandoned basement. Only half the lights were on, saturating every few feet with darkness. Worse, we were alone. Just the recipe for a horror movie.

"Cool this get any more creepy?" Joy muttered.

Above us, the building was really rumbling. At any moment we could find ourselves under tons of rubble.

I yelled over the sound of a crumbling school. "We really need to get out of here! Which way?"

More chilling screams gathered behind the door. Its friends had found it.

Joy grabbed my hand and we started to sprint straight down the hall. As we got deeper into the basement more boxes and crates began to appear around us. During one moment a sign drew me to a hault.

"Are you serious?!" I exclaimed.

"Are you?" Joy yelled at me. "Monsters are kind of after us, the school is about to fall on top of us and you stop now?

I point at the elevator doors in front us. "Those little twits forgot to mention that there was an elevator in the building the ENTIRE TIME!"

Joy almost joined my frustration but thought better of it. Instead she roughly pushed me towards our original direction. "If there's an elevator, that must mean the docks are nearby!"

It wasn't until after sprinting two yards that we saw the big metal doors we were looking for. A large sign that read, "STAFF ONLY. NO STUDENTS ALLOWED" was taped to the surface.

"How much do you have a bet that those are the docks?" Joy asked.

We ran to the doors and started to push. It won't budge. We frantically pushed the handles. No use.

"Its locked from the outside." Joy said. "Probably to keep the monsters out."

Now what? The sounds of the pursuers were grew louder behind us.

Joy started banging the doors. I looked around. The hall extended for five yards. There had to be another way out. I ran down to the end, looking for a door. Nothing. Then on my way back I saw it – a door with a small window. It had a locker bank for the custodial staff. At the end, under a spotlight from heaven was an exit door. I held my breath and turned the knob. It turned.

"Joy!" I opened the door and pulled her into the final hall with me. The lights were flashing on and off like crazy horror film. Dust and debris fell like rain. A loud crash sounded behind us followed by blood chilling screeches. They had found us!

We sprinted as fast as we could from the growing evil behind us. My legs were on fire from all the running. We were halfway down the hall when the door opened. I prepared to stop Joy in case something evil popped in.

Instead, it was a fireman. He waved frantically at us. "Come on! The place is about to go down!"

I mustered whatever strength I had left and pumped my legs as hard as I could. The ground beneath us shook violently. Pieces of ceiling tile fell behind us, hitting the monsters. I grabbed Joy's hand and together we pushed through the last yard. Once at the door, two firemen pulled us outside and into the cool night air.

We didn't stop until we made it up a hill, well away from the chaos.

"I can't believe we just did that!" Joy panted, out of breath.

"Me. Neither." I spluttered. My body lost to fatigue. I collapsed onto the ground, still heaving. Joy joined me. Behind us the wails fire truck and police sirens filled the air. Joy took my hand in hers. Slowly, the sounds began to fade away. I smiled. Together we watched the nightmare fall to pieces before our eyes.


End file.
